Neil Young On The Making Of His Lost 1976 Album, "Hitchhiker"

Late-night acoustic recordings from over 40 years ago spawn a new release from a rock legend

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Sep 1, 2017 - 11:57 am

GRAMMY-winning singer/songwriter and 2010 MusiCares Person Of The Year Neil Young is releasing a new album next week, although it's anything but new. Hitchhiker is a "lost" acoustic album recorded in 1976.

These recordings surface from a very prolific era in Young's career, and many of the songs recorded during the late night session that spawned Hitchhiker appeared on classic albums like Rust Never Sleeps and Hawks and Doves, according to Spin. This includes songs like "Pocahontas" and "Powderfinger," which reflect some of Young's finest songwriting work of his career.

During a recent radio appearance captured in a Facebook Live video, Young read an excerpt of his memoir, Special Deluxe, that speaks to the writing and recording of Hitchhiker, starting at about three minutes into the video below.

Neil Young Launches Massive Online Career-Spanning Archive

The GRAMMY-winning rock icon opens his vaults for free on the same day his new album drops

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Dec 1, 2017 - 4:56 pm

Neil Young launched a massive online archive containing a comprehensive collection of everything the Canadian rock legend has recorded as a solo artist and bandleader, all for free — no small treasure trove for Young fans.

The collection, titled the Neil Young Archives, is available for free via a new website, complete with simulated vintage gear as the user interface, includes a timeline and high quality Xstream audio. The website launch comes hand-in-hand with Young's new album with Promise Of The Real, The Visitor, also released today.

"We developed this site to provide fans and music historians with unprecedented access to all of my music and to my entire archives in one convenient location," reads a post on Young's Facebook page. "My team and I have spent years developing this site to make it both enjoyable and easy to use. The site allows me to share with the world the material I've spent a lifetime creating and collecting. I hope you enjoy it."

To celebrate the release, Young is streaming a free webcast concert on his new site at 8 p.m. EST. Happy digging!

Take a look back at the GRAMMY Awards' 15th anniversary celebration and see who made headlines

Nate Hertweck

GRAMMYs

Dec 27, 2017 - 5:40 pm

The GRAMMY Awards gained more and more steam going into the 1970s, and by the time the 15th anniversary came around in 1973, the train was at full speed and headed for Music City U.S.A. — Nashville, Tenn.

15th GRAMMY Awards Flashback

From the show's arrival in Nashville to memorable speeches by Johnny Cash and Helen Reddy, landmark GRAMMY wins by Roberta Flack and George Harrison, and a few firsts, the 15th Annual GRAMMY Awards was both a testament to the place the awards had earned in the heart and soul of the recording industry and a taste of how widespread and influential Music's Biggest Night would grow to become.

Let's take a look back at how this historic night in 1973 played out, focusing on how the show had grown, who made the headlines, who broke the mold, and who took home the trophies.

1. Nashville's Only GRAMMY Broadcast

For the 15th GRAMMY Awards, the show traveled to the heart and soul of country music, Nashville, Tenn. Though prior awards ceremonies had been hosted across various cities, including Nashville from 1965–1970, since the first live GRAMMY telecast in 1971, the show had taken to parking itself in one city at a time. The 15th GRAMMYs was Nashville's turn. For the occasion, Tennessee Theatre served as the venue while Andy Williams played the role of host. It's the only time in the history of the live telecast that Nashville has hosted Music's Biggest Night — in fact, it's the only time the telecast has been broadcast from a city other than New York or Los Angeles.

2. Harrison And Shankar Change The World

George Harrison accomplished something special when he opened his heart and his rolodex to create The Concert For Bangladesh. The former Beatle teamed with GRAMMY-winning sitarist Ravi Shankar and they took over New York's Madison Square Garden for two back-to-back shows, enlisting a remarkable roster of friends such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, and more to raise awareness and funds for efforts to help refugees from the war-torn country. The concert was a massive success in paving the way for future humanitarian projects such as Live Aid, and the resulting triple-LP won the coveted GRAMMY Award for Album Of The Year, showing that musicians have the power to truly make a difference.

3. Helen Reddy Brings Female Empowerment

The GRAMMY Awards have always been on the forward edge of equality politics, such as marrying LGBTQ couples on the GRAMMY stage in 2014 to the soundtrack of Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert singing "Same Love." But this through-line arguably goes back to the 15th GRAMMYs, thanks to Helen Reddy.

The Australian singer/songwriter won the GRAMMY for Best Pop Performance, Female for her anthem, "I Am Woman," which brought feminism front and center on the GRAMMY stage.

A moment that surely still resonates today, Reddy brought empowerment for women further into the foreground when she declared during her acceptance speech, "And I would like to thank God because she makes everything possible."

4. The First Time Ever I … Won A GRAMMY.

Soulful songstress Roberta Flack won the first two of her four GRAMMYs at the 15th GRAMMY Awards, most notably Record Of The Year for her smash "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." The song also pulled in a GRAMMY for its songwriter, Ewan MacColl, for Song Of The Year.

Flack also won GRAMMY gold that night for Best Pop Vocal Performance By A Duo, Group Or Chorus for "Where Is The Love," her duet with Donny Hathaway. The following year, she would go on to win two more GRAMMY Awards for her classic "Killing Me Softly With His Song."

5. Nilsson And Starr Steal The Show

In addition to landing big time nominations for Album Of The Year for Nilsson Schmilsson and Record Of The Year for "Without You," singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson won the second GRAMMY of his career, this time for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male for his faithful rendition of "Without You," a song popularized by British rockers Badfinger.

Nilsson's charisma matched his talent step for step, just as he matched his good friend Ringo Starr while presenting an award at the 15th GRAMMY Awards where both men read their lines in near perfect unison.

6. George Carlin Wins First GRAMMY

Comedian George Carlin never pulled any punches, and his delightfully irreverent style turned out well for him — he won a total of five career GRAMMYs. But it all started for the "Seven Dirty Words" comic at the 15th GRAMMY Awards when he took home his first GRAMMY — Best Comedy Recording for FM And AM, his third album.

Carlin went on to earn three Best Spoken Comedy Album GRAMMYs and one Best Comedy Album GRAMMY for his final 2008 album, It's Bad For Ya.

7. Johnny Cash Weighs In

One of the night's most memorable moments came in the form of praise for the Recording Academy from the Man In Black himself, Johnny Cash. During an award presentation, Cash described the organization as "fast-moving, creative and exciting like the recording industry itself. I'm Johnny Cash and I'm proud to be a part of it."

Nearly 45 years later, the Recording Academy continues its tireless work to support and celebrate the great artists of our time. Thanks, Mr. Cash.

Adele wins Record Of The Year GRAMMY

If you've wondered this yourself, fear not, for you have arrived at the answer.

Simply put, Record Of The Year deals with a specific recording of a song and recognizes the artists, producers and engineers who contribute to that recording, while Song Of The Year deals with the composition of a song and recognizes the songwriters who wrote the song. That's it in a nutshell!

To dig a little deeper, let's look at the definition of each category, who it includes, and some recent examples.

Record Of The Year, Explained

The Record Of The Year GRAMMY goes to the artist(s), producer(s), and engineer(s) involved in crafting the specific recording (hence "record") of a song. For example, the winner at the 57th GRAMMY Awards for Record Of The Year was "Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)" by Sam Smith. As the primary artist, Sam Smith received a GRAMMY, as did the three producers (including Rodney Jerkins a.k.a. "Darkchild) and the four engineers who worked on the recording, including those properly credited for recording, mixing, and mastering the record.

Song Of The Year, Explained

The Song Of The Year award, on the other hand, goes to the songwriter(s) (hence "song) of new material (not including sampled or interpolated material) of a song. For example, at the 44th GRAMMY Awards, the winner of Song Of The Year was "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys, and as the sole writer of the song, Keys received the GRAMMY. For this reason, Song Of The Year is referred to as a songwriter's award, one of several across the 84 categories that recognize the songwriter.

Does that clear things up a bit? Hopefully, it does.

The Recording Academy strives to award excellence in many facets of the music creation process, thus necessitating the distinction between the year's best recording and its best song composition.

For bonus points, let's look at one more example from the 59th GRAMMY Awards. The GRAMMY for Record Of The Year went to "Hello" by Adele, earning GRAMMY gold for Adele as the artist as well as producer Greg Kurstin and the eight engineers who worked on the record. The GRAMMY for Song Of The Year also went to "Hello" — however, only the songwriters, Adele and Greg Kurstin, received the Song Of The Year GRAMMY.

So now, when you're watching the 60th GRAMMY Awards live on CBS Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT, you'll be able to dazzle your friends with your insider knowledge. For a rundown of this year's nominees in both of these major categories, check out our Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year roundups.

Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.